


Fire and Gold in Your Eyes

by TortureMiska



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aged Up, Bisexual Disaster Sokka (Avatar), F/M, Slight Canon Divergence, Zuko is a bisexual disaster, nobody is straight, what is an OC but a self-insert?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25352920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TortureMiska/pseuds/TortureMiska
Summary: Kani, the twin sister of Sokka and one of only two remaining waterbenders from the Southern Water Tribe, stays behind to heal Iroh when Azula attacks him to escape during the season 2 episode, The Chase. She travels with Iroh and Zuko to Ba Sing Se, where she hopes to reunite with her friends. As she waits for her friends to find her, she begins a strained friendship with the banished prince and his uncle.Everyone is aged up four years from the show canon. Aang and Toph are 16, Katara is 18, Sokka, Kani, and Zuko are 20.
Relationships: Zuko (Avatar)/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 14





	1. Short Prologue

Kani was twenty years old when she left the Southern Water Tribe for the first time. She was not alone; her twin brother, little sister, a young Avatar and his flying bison were lively company.  
Her father had left more than two years ago as part of the resistance against the relentless Fire Nation, much to the devastation of his children. With only their grandmother to raise them, Kani had to keep a watchful eye on her siblings to keep them out of trouble, especially her baby sister.  
Katara, barely eighteen, was a waterbender like Kani. They were the only waterbenders in the entire Southern Tribe, since the Fire Nation’s raids had either killed or kidnapped all the rest. Ten years ago, one such raid came to their quaint village, demanding to know the whereabouts of the waterbender they knew the village was harboring. Kya took the blame for her children and lost her life that day.  
Kani gained the burn scars on her arms shortly after. She insisted Katara have their mother’s necklace.  
Ever since that raid, Kani trained with Sokka and the young men of their village to fight with weapons, and on some nights, she and her sister would sneak away to practice their bending away from the village, to avoid being spotted again.  
Leaving her home for the first time was both terrifying and exciting. Terrifying because she did not know what to expect from the world. How many more Fire Nation ships would they have to flee? Did other nations even accept Water Tribe money? How would they restock their supplies?  
And yet leaving felt so freeing. No longer did Kani have to hide her bending for the sake of her family. The Fire Nation was already aware of her, and she could let herself be as angry as she wanted.


	2. The Chase

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might add more to the last scene when I post the next chapter because I realize this is still pretty short.

Iroh lay slumped in the dirt, Zuko hovering over him. The Fire Nation Prince was shaking, and Kani knew he was about to explode. Her caring little sister stepped up to offer aid, but she stumbled back at the wall of flames Zuko threw at her.  
“We gotta go,” Sokka ushered the group.  
The crumpled prince had completely folded, sobbing into the dirty fabric of the disgraced general. Zuko’s hair, once a well-kempt ponytail, was now just a few inches tall and even all over his head. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been covered in nasty-looking bruises and scrapes that she knew could not have come from any of the encounters between the Prince and the Avatar.   
Yet even back then, when the Avatar was ripped from his grip once again, he refused to break. Whatever obstacles he’d encountered over the last month, this had been the last straw for him. Kani knew this was not the same Zuko who came to her village to threaten her family last fall.  
The eldest waterbender stepped forward.  
“Kani, I said let’s go!”  
Her twin brother’s objections fell on deaf ears as Kani approached the volatile prince and his unconscious uncle. Zuko lifted his head high enough to glare at her, and Kani knew he would throw a halfhearted ball of fire if she got too close.  
Before the firebending prince could decide she was within range, Kani pulled the water from her colambre and stretched it into a deadly spear of ice pointed directly at the prince’s neck. She held the man’s glare, even as the air between them rose in temperature. Kani ignored her companions’ horrified gasps. Finally, when she saw the gears turning in Zuko’s mind for an attack, she spoke.  
“The longer you wait to provide aid to your uncle, the worse his wound will get. So get up and let me heal him.” Zuko’s rage flared for a moment, but after meeting Kani’s unwavering gaze, he averted his eyes. His nose and the bridge between his eyebrows were still wrinkled in frustration, but his mouth relaxed from a snarl to a deep frown as he turned his head away in defeat. Kani’s ice spear melted and returned to the small sack on her hip.  
As Kani sat down to examine Iroh’s wounds, she shouted over her shoulder at her siblings and friends. “You guys go on ahead! I’ll catch up later.”  
A chorus of disagreement erupted from behind her as she carefully pulled the cloth away from the old man’s shoulder.  
“We’re not leaving you, Kani,” Katara insisted. The elder sister could hear the tremble in her baby sister’s voice and turned around to look at her. Kani’s gaze landed first on her sister, whom she so desperately tried to help Gran-Gran raise while their father was away. Then her eyes moved over the Avatar’s gobsmacked expression. He was a sweet boy and had given Kani many reasons to laugh. Toph was still a new face, but a welcome one, if a bit abrasive. Finally, she met her twin’s teary eyes. He was going to try desperately not to cry when Appa was in the air. Kani wanted to give Sokka the hug goodbye he deserved, but she was afraid she might not let him go.  
“You four need to get away from Azula as soon as you can. Don’t worry about me, I can take care of myself.” Kani tried to hide the pit in her stomach with a sly grin as she added, “Kyoshi knows I’ve taken care of you guys long enough.”   
Katara’s mouth opened to protest again but even before Kani could interrupt her, Toph grabbed her arm and hauled her toward the bison. “We have to go.”   
Sokka helped the two girls into Appa’s saddle before he faced his sister. In all their times playing Soldier as children, Sokka had always been the general and Kani was his subordinate begging him not to go to war. Now, it seemed their roles had been reversed. Kani watched as Appa rose into the air, her friends and family on board without her. Kani saluted the departing crew and Sokka held her gaze for as long as he could see her. It took Appa only a few moments to reach the clouds.  
Once the beast was out of sight, Kani turned her attention back to treating the old man’s wounds and tried not to think about the pit in her stomach. She hadn’t been separated from her siblings for more than a few days at most, and the realization that she would have to live without them for weeks, months, maybe even years was more than enough reason for the blood to suddenly flow to her head and blur her thoughts.   
Healing became the only thing she could process for several minutes as she worked to calm herself down. The prince was hovering just outside of Kani’s vision, but the sound of his pacing in the dirt helped bring her back to reality.  
After a few moments of breathing in the dust kicked up by his shoes, Kani spoke to Zuko. “If you need something to do, I could use some fresh bandages and boiling water. And pretty soon I’ll need help moving him under a roof.”  
The pacing paused and the banished prince sent her a withering glare. “Fine. Where do you want him?”  
Kani craned her neck to examine the surrounding buildings. “Whichever one has the most intact roof; there’s a storm coming.” Zuko huffed but used his height advantage to assess their options.  
“That one.” Kani raised her head to see Zuko pointing at one of the abandoned homes at the edge of the village and nodded her approval. The water at Iroh’s shoulder returned to Kani’s colambre as she stood up.  
“You get his shoulders, I’ll carry the legs. Try not to jostle him too much.” The scarred man carried out her orders without verbalizing any complaints, although his grunts sounded annoyed. Soon, they had the unconscious man inside and laid him down near the window. As the two young adults dusted themselves off, Kani spoke up again.   
“I think there was a well on the other side of the village; I’m gonna get some water.” She watched as Zuko sat down next to his uncle without sparing her a glance. Her next words were through gritted teeth. “Think you can make a fire and find a pot or something?”  
The prince tried to keep his voice and his expression calm but stern as he responded. “Thank you for your assistance thus far, but we are fine now. You can go back to your Avatar.”  
Kani rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Do you seriously think I can just fly off to catch up with Appa? No, you are stuck with me whether either of us like it or not. You’re welcome.” The waterbender turned to leave the dirty hut, but she paused at the doorway to bark another order. “I need a fire and some sort of pot for me to sterilize the bandages. Your uncle will heal much faster if you just helped me instead of making it harder.” She didn’t wait for Zuko’s response before she left the building.  
There indeed was a well at the other end of the settlement, but Kani had to pull the water up from the ground with her bending. And since she didn’t have a pot, she had to keep bending it into a ball the whole way back to the hut. She hadn’t gotten much sleep due to running from Azula the whole night, and the fatigue was quickly catching up with her and combining with the stress of leaving her friends and siblings behind.  
When Kani made it back to the firebenders’ hut, she was pleasantly surprised to see a small cooking pot and a fire had materialized seemingly out of thin air. Zuko was on the floor next to the fire, tearing some sort of garment into strips of cloth for bandages. His scarred eye faced the doorway, and he paused his tearing so he could look up and confirm her identity. Kani gave him a nod in greeting, but he ignored it and focused his attention back to making bandages.  
Kani let out a huff and examined the cooking pot Zuko found. It was dusty as hell. Keeping one hand to stabilize the ball of well water, she used her other to lure the water from her colambre into the pot, swirling it around and being careful to get every surface. Once she was satisfied that the pot was the cleanest it would get, she pulled the now murky water back into its container and carefully dropped the well water into the pot to boil.  
With a heavy sigh, Kani flopped onto the floor. Her eyelids felt heavy and the temptation of sleep was finally winning her over. She used her arm to block the sunlight from her eyes.  
“You can put the bandages in the water and let them boil for a few minutes.” Her words were barely louder than a mumble. “Wake me up when they need to be dried.”  
___  
Kani didn’t know if Zuko had heard her and just didn’t reply, or if she had already fallen asleep before he could, but he didn’t wake her up to dry the bandages. Instead, she was woken up by conversation between uncle and nephew.  
The young woman let out a yawn and stretched to wake herself up. She wiped at her eyes and found them to be uncomfortably dry and resistant to opening. It took her a moment to be able open her eyes fully, and she heard the conversation turn to her while she was struggling with her body’s resistance.  
“Ah! My savior awakens!” The unmistakable jovial tone belonging to the disgraced general was a welcome sound. Kani was finally able to look at him as he began his next sentence. During her nap, Zuko had dried the bandages and applied them to Iroh’s shoulder. She recognized the caution in the old man’s eyes as he looked her over. “My nephew tells me you risked your own safety to treat my wounds, and for that I thank you.”  
Kani’s eyes darted to Zuko for a moment before she met the formal general’s gaze. “You’re welcome,” she replied earnestly, “Although to be honest, I did not feel like I was in much danger.” Kani’s eyes were on their way to gauge Zuko’s reaction as he let out an indignant scoff and she couldn’t help but let one side of her mouth lift up in a smirk.  
Iroh chuckled. “I suppose we do not look so intimidating now.” Kani smiled softly and shook her head.  
“No,” she agreed. Her voice became softer as the vision of Zuko’s shaking form bent over Iroh’s unconscious body came back to her mind. “Not anymore.”  
“Oh! Where are my manners?” The general set his undrunk cup of tea down and shifted his weight, trying to straighten his back. “My name is Iroh. I assume you are already acquainted with my nephew Zuko.”  
Kani bowed respectfully. “I am Kani, of the Southern Water Tribe.” As she straightened her back again she added, “And you two are stuck with me for the foreseeable future.”  
Iroh laughed. “I’ll never say no to a beautiful woman, let alone a skillful healer.”  
Zuko decided to finally speak up. “Well maybe you should, Uncle. We don’t know this woman! She could be trying to trick us.”  
“Um, I’m right here,” Kani cut in, meeting Zuko’s glare. “But yeah, you should probably say no to random women you meet, Iroh.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for clicking! I haven't posted anything in a very long time, but I feel pretty good about this one, since I've gotten a good amount written so far. I generally write scenes as I get the ideas for them, and I'm trying to flesh out a few that take place earlier before I post more. I haven't had anyone else read this before I post this, so please let me know what y'all think!


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